Altamirano falls to another German in U.S. Open

Collin Altamirano of Elk Grove in the Sacramento
area lost to top-seeded Alexander Zverev of Ger-
many 6-4, 6-4 in the junior boys quarterfinals at
the U.S. Open. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Collin Altamirano has seen about enough of German players for a while.
   After losing to 22nd-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber in the first round of men's singles in the U.S. Open last week, Altamirano of the Sacramento area fell to top-seeded Alexander Zverev 6-4, 6-4 today in the junior boys quarterfinals in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. Altamirano is 17 years old and Zverev 16.
   Zverev's father, Alexander Sr., played Davis Cup for the Soviet Union in the 1980s and moved to Germany in the early 1990s to coach. Alexander Jr.'s brother, 26-year-old Mischa, is ranked No. 136 in the world. He reached the final of the $100,000 Sacramento Challenger last October.
   Altamirano, 6-foot-2 (1.88 meters), won the USTA Boys 18 National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich., last month to earn an automatic wild card in men's singles at the U.S. Open. He lost to Kohlschreiber 6-1, 6-3, 6-1.
   Altamirano trains under Joseph Gilbert at the Arden Hills Resort & Spa in Sacramento and lives with his grandparents in the suburb of Elk Grove. His father, Frank, resides in Yuba City, 42 miles (68 kilometers) north of Sacramento, and his mother and stepfather, Anne and Wes Barber, live in Santa Barbara in Southern California.
   In today's junior girls quarterfinals at the U.S. Open, 11th-seeded Mayo Hibi of Japan topped third-seeded Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 7-5. Both players are 17.
   Hibi, who won the $50,000 Gold River Challenger in the Sacramento area in July, will play second-seeded Ana Konjuh of Croatia in Saturday's semifinals. Konjuh, 15, handled 10th-seeded Louisa Chirico of Harrison, N.Y., 6-3, 6-2.
   Hibi was born in Japan but has lived in California, first in Foster City in the San Francisco Bay Area and now in Irvine, since she was 2 1/2.